Where to start

[stayathomer]

Hi everyone, I hate asking very general questions like this, but our neighbours cat has had kittens. The cat comes into us all the time and the neighbour had basically said however many we wanted (or if we wanted them all) to go for it. The thing is the cat keeps bringing the kittens in and the neighbour thinks it's because her other cat and her dogs are bothering them and has basically said if they want to stay in ours for the time being to go for it. Now we'd obviously discussed having kittens but now I feel we're I'll prepared so I rang a vet and a shelter for tips and they said just to keep an eye on them until we figure out worming, vaccinations etc with neighbours. I was wondering if people could direct me as to where to start reading up on kittens and cats? I have no clue! They are in a box with a baby blanket the mo, the mum and the 3 babies, but that won't be suitable for long, will it? Do cats usually sleep on cat beds or is it like dogs where they end up on a blanket or something instead? I've been to some of the rescue websites reading on cats but theff re doesn't seem to be a lot?! Sorry and thank you!!

Well done for taking on Mum and kittens. It's a hard road but very rewarding. I can't give a lot of advice and more knowledgeable posters will be along in a minute.

Have you got cat food and a litter tray for Mum and kittens? It's recommended to feed Mum kitten food to give her enough energy.

Can you capture them and bring them to be checked by a vet? Mum can get pregnant again quite quickly so try and get her spayed.

Cats will sleep anywhere! Any cat nest you provide will be ignored in favour of whatever they want! A large box with bedding will be fine for now.
@thecatneuterer knows a lot about cats.

So the cat is still theirs, they said they were taking her to get neutered when they realised she was already pregnant and theyll get her neutered soon. We have cat food for the mum anyhoo and water out. Have to get a litter tray (this all literally just happened, I assumed theyd just ask us to bring them back!!!) How many should we get? One per kitty? Thanks so much!!!

I’ve just gone through a similar thing. But a feral mum and her kittens.
I started with them all in a huge box with blankets I changed daily. A litter tray for mum.
At about 8-9 weeks the kitten could escape the box! So we let them have free range of our shed with a kitty pen as a bed with the usual blankets.
All the times mum was feed as much as she wanted dry and wet food and water. Once we saw that the kittens were starting to show an interest in food and water - I just put down extra in shallow bowls. Mum weaned them herself. At around 12 weeks they were fully weaned.
I did put down extra litter trays, but apparently they have decided that one is all they want and so I clean it out several times a day! I used shallow sided ones but they all like the deep hooded one. (Cats like what cats like despite ‘best practice’)
Vaccinations started at 12 weeks but some vets start them at 8 weeks. Mine are being neutered at 16 weeks.

Google kitten stages and you will find lots of advice.

Sorry for long post.

Just wanted to say - you will never have more loving cats than those you’ve reared from kittens. You sound fabulous and will be brilliant cat parents/slaves.

Can you put a picture on her so we can age the babies? A lot of the advice will stem from that.
How does she come into your house - is it via a window, catflap? Can you dedicate the room she comes into to her, with all her setup for food, drink, bedding etc?
Nursing mums need to eat a lot, give her kitten food both wet and dry. This food has lots of nutrients for her and will be passed to the kittens via her milk. Check if the box has a good size so she can jump in and out of it with enough space to land and not squash the kittens. Put a blanket at the bottom but nothing too voluminous so the kittens don’t get lost in the blanket folds therefore missing feeds or not being able to breathe.

Bargebill19
Thank you so so much, that's really helpful!!!!

Pancakeorcrepe
They're 4/5 days old. I'm actually worried about the box because I cant see that she could easily get in out etc, kind of comfy for lying down but it's a rigid one if you know what I mean, a storage one, probably something less rigid, so just cardboard would be better? K, so we were just giving her dry, will get onto wet too!! Oh my god you are all so good, thank you!!!

And Bargebill19 thank you again!! And congratulations on your kitties!!!!!

Oh and Pancakeorcrepe so at the moment they are in the porch with the door open. We've no doors that would suit cat flaps and will be moving them into the kitchen I suppose. Yes this is something we need to figure out!!

Mums can leap higher than you think. Keep the kittens and mum warm and safe. Give mum a litter tray and lots of quality wet and dry food. She’s decided you are going to co-parent!
This was mine at around that age.

Hi @stayathomer, they are very small, do really at this stage your job is looking after mum and she will look after the kittens. Lots of food,wet and dry,litter tray and water.
Keep the family warm and safe from other animals. The mums feel very vulnerable at this stage. The porch may be a bit stressful because of all the comings and goings, can you find a nice quiet corner for her in the kitchen? The box you have sounds OK but cardboard is also good, it’s a bit warmer. If you go shopping at Aldi or Lidl, they always have boxes around in different shapes and sizes. If you can cover the box with a muslim or so, a bit like a tent, leaving a little area for mum to jump in and out of, they also like that. Cats really like nooks and crannies especially when they have babies because they feel more protected.

Okay brill, will move them into the kitchen so! Thank you!!!! Bargebill19 so cute!!!